The present invention relates to a flexible disk drive for driving a flexible disk which is used to record/reproduce information or data and, in particular, to a thin-profile flexible disk drive provided with a guide rod for guiding a head assembly including a magnetic head in a tracking direction.
As well known in the art, a flexible disk drive (FDD) is an apparatus for performing data recording/reproducing operation upon a disk-shaped magnetic recording medium contained in the flexible disk (FD) inserted into the flexible disk drive. For example, the flexible disk drive is proposed by the present inventors in Japanese Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2003-85901. The flexible disk drive mentioned above is typically installed in an electric apparatus such as a personal computer.
An existing flexible disk drive of the type comprises a magnetic head for reading/writing data from/to the magnetic recording medium of the-flexible disk loaded in the flexible disk drive, a head assembly supporting the magnetic head at its end so that the magnetic head is movable along a predetermined radial direction (tracking direction) with respect to the flexible disk, a stepping motor for moving the head assembly along the tracking direction, and a spindle motor for rotatably driving the magnetic recording medium in the flexible disk held in the flexible disk drive. The spindle motor comprises a direct-drive (DD) motor.
The head assembly is guided in the tracking direction by a rod-shaped member called a guide rod. The guide rod is rigidly or fixedly attached to a base plate of a main frame of the flexible disk drive by a metal fitting. The metal fitting is made of a metal material having elasticity, such as stainless steel (for example, SUS304), and has a length corresponding to the guide rod. The metal fitting is arranged on the base plate so as to engage the guide rod on the base plate. The guide rod extends through the head assembly and is slidably held by the head assembly. The metal fitting has one end and the other end fixedly attached to the base plate by screws, respectively.
The metal fitting is provided with a bent portion. The bent portion serves to prevent the guide rod from being displaced in its axis direction, that is, the tracking direction when the flexible disk drive is subjected to large mechanical shock.
The base plate is provided with a rectangular slot to receive the head assembly which is movable. Adjacent to the rectangular slot, a bent portion is formed. The bent portion serves to prevent the guide rod from being displaced in a direction perpendicular to the tracking direction when the flexible disk drive is subjected to large mechanical shock.
In order to suppress axial displacement or wobbling of the guide rod, another approach is proposed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication (JP-U) No. H5-15164. In a pickup driving unit disclosed in the publication, a base plate is provided with a recessed portion having a wall which serves to restrict the movement of an end portion of the guide rod.
With the miniaturization (especially, the lower profile), the weight reduction, and the cost reduction of the electronic apparatus, the flexible disk drive to be installed in the electronic apparatus is also required to fulfil those demands for miniaturization (especially, the lower profile), the weight reduction, and the cost reduction.
In order to satisfy the above-mentioned requirement, it is effective to simplify the structure of the flexible disk drive. If the structure is simplified, it is possible to reduce the amount of materials, the number of manufacturing steps, the number of steps of controlling the dimension of individual parts, and the number of steps of controlling the relationship between dimensions of respective parts.